Expedition Stout | Bell's Brewery, Inc.

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Notes / Commercial Description:
Expedition Stout offers immensely complex flavors crafted specifically with vintage aging in mind, as its profile will continue to mature and develop over the years. A huge malt body is matched to a heady blend of chocolate, dark fruits, and other aromas. Intensely bitter in its early months, the flavors will slowly meld and grow in depth as the beer ages.

12oz bottle poured into glass. The color is black with a thin brown head. The aroma is, prunes, rasins and dark chocolate. It tastes like dark chocolate, rasins, prunes, and smoke. The smoke taste stands out to me. This beer feels heavy due to the abv. Overall this is a world class beer. This beer is worth trying multiple times, might save some to age.

This is a very complex stout. It has all the flavors. Chocolate, coffee, dark fruit, smoke and not too much of any one. They say it ages well and I would expect so. It could go for a little smoothing out and just seems like a beer screaming for a year on it. I don't know if I can make any bottles last that long though, as it's already very good fresh. Good job bell's, keep the good beer coming.

In the past month, I’ve tried 3 different versions of this beer; a 2015 version (aged 2 years), 2017 version (aged 3 months), and fresh out of the tap at Bell’s Brewery in Kalamazoo, MI. By far, the beer with the most flavor and depth is the one that was aged for threee months in the bottle. The other 2 felt thinner. I’m glad I tried the bottled version from this year; this beer was a little disappointing other at the 2 other stages of aging.

Pours out very dark cola brown, and looks pitch black in the glass, with no light coming through even at the edges. Completely black. The head is brown and creamy, very thick and mocha-like. Retention is very good, and a fluffy ring remains 20 minutes later. The edges of the head leaves sheets of wiry, creamy lacing.
The nose offers deep savory umami, dark chocolate with caramel, cocoa butter, some more bitter cocoa powder, gingerbread, molasses, licorice, espresso beans, raisin, allspice, prune, date, and fig.
The palate immediately opens up with that soy sauce, beef broth, umami impression. A salty meatiness that causes mouthwatering. Tons of spices, dark fruits, and a huge bready presence follow. The molasses, licorice, and star anise give way to gingerbread, fruitcake, and rye bread with lots of raisin, dried fig, prune, and date. The massive bready malts of the mid-palate give way to a rich dark chocolate and bitter cocoa flavor with intense dark roast coffee. Finishes slightly sweet at first with rich dark chocolates, but the bitterness lingers, tasting continually of bitter chocolate and coffee beans.
The mouthfeel is super smooth and creamy throughout, almost like a milkshake saved for the medium-minus to medium carbonation that pushes the beer along the palate fast enough to make it insanely and dangerously drinkable. The balance is both bitter and sweet, but enough of either to enhance the drinkability and noteworthiness of flavors.
Overall...yes, this is a world-class stout. It's damn good and worth every penny.

drinking this at 1 year old. this is excellent stuff, great looking brew with aromas and flavors of sweet chocolate, burnt malt, molasses, roasted nuts, coffee, bitter chocolate/espresso thing. excellent balance between sweet and roasty/bitter notes, very well rounded. solid mouthfeel and not a hint of the alcohol.

This one is more bitter and charred than what some RIS beers. If you're a hophead then this may be a beer for you, but I prefer more sweetness in a RIS. I figured 2 years in the cellar might have reduced the bitterness, but I really don't think it has. Let's give it one more year and see what happens. I'd rather spend my money on Old Rasputin if you're after a true RIS, personally. It's plenty good, but overpriced.